Facts about Raccoons

Raccoon’s Secret Powers

The raccoon sometimes spelled racoon. If anybody told you that raccoons have powers, would you believe it? If yes, you would probably be thinking about Rocket Raccoon from Guardians of Galaxy. But he’s not the only resourceful raccoon. In fact, all raccoon’s are incredibly resourceful! Raccoon’s are small to medium sized mammals native to North America.

Let’s learn all about them –

What does a Raccoon look like?

They have a distinctive black mask of dark fur across their eyes and a thick bushy tail. Their colours range from grey to reddish brown and vary with habitat. Typically, they weigh around six to seven kilograms and have a stocky build. Males are generally heavier than females.

Where do Raccoons Live?

Although they prefer living in moist woodland areas, raccoons are survivors and can adapt to most areas really well. They are found in farmlands and even suburban and urban areas. Life span – Around 16 years in the wild, and close to 20 in captivity.

What do Raccoons eat?

Raccoons are omnivores like humans. Another great thing about raccoons is that they have the ability to figure out if an item is or isn’t edible. Thus, they’ve evolved to eat just about anything – be it pizza, grass, chocolates, birds’ eggs and even fried chicken! They source most of their food from urban trash cans

What their behaviour is like?

Primarily nocturnal, raccoons generally come out at night to find food. They might not have a cat-level night vision, but they do have an interesting ability that lets them see in the dark. Raccoon’s can see with their hands, i.e., by touching an object, they can figure out what it is, and most importantly, whether or not they can eat it. Raccoon’s have a shuffle like walk and are excellent climbers and strong swimmers.

5 Raccoon Fun Facts

Raccoon paws are different from those of cats and dogs – they don’t have webbing in between their digits. This helps them have a great grip on things, which is probably why they’re such great climbers.

They can also do a 180 degree rotation with their heads.

Raccoons make terrible pets – Although baby raccoons are incredibly cute, it is a very bad idea. Raccoons have no morals, and can be a destructive force to have in your living room. If you don’t want your house to look like a house torn apart by a mob, it would be wiser to leave the raccoon outside.

Another reason to not have them as pets is the large number of dangerous parasites they carry, and spread around in their foul smelling black poop.

So many cool abilities right? No wonder a raccoon was the animal of choice for the Guardians of Galaxy movie.